A container terminal is a facility where containers are loaded onto or unloaded from ships and the containers are carried in and out by foreign chassis for on-shore transportation. The container terminal serves also as a facility for temporarily storing containers unloaded or carried into the container terminal.
The container terminal will be described below with reference to FIG. 9. In a method of handling containers C in a container terminal 1X, the containers C loaded on a container ship S are unloaded by quay cranes 12X. The quay cranes 12X load the containers C onto trailers 13X. The trailers 13X carry the containers C to container storage areas 4. In the container storage areas 4, yard cranes 11X unload the containers C from the trailers 13X.
When the containers handled at this time are reefer containers (refrigerated containers) RCs, the containers are stored in a reefer container storage area 4R. The reefer containers RCs are connected to reefer stands 23, and the temperatures of the insides of the containers are maintained constant by electric power supplied from the reefer stands 23.
In the container terminal 1X, the operations of handling machines such as the yard cranes 11X, the quay cranes 12X, and the trailers 13X, the temperature management of the reefer containers RCs, and electric power management of the container terminal 1X are performed by a terminal management system installed in a management building 3. A computer for operating the terminal management system is provided in the management building 3.
Next, the flow of electric power in this container terminal 1X will be described. Electric power supplied from an electric power company 30 to an incoming panel 2 is divided at the incoming panel 2 and sent to the management building 3, bus bars 21, electric supply cables 22, and the reefer stands 23 via electric supply lines 20. The electric power is then sent to electrically-powered machines (the yard cranes 11X, the quay cranes 12X, and the reefer containers RCs). Besides, the electric power is also sent to a lighting system (not shown), other electrically-powered machines operating in the container terminal 1X (for example, goliath cranes, jib cranes, tower cranes, unloader cranes, overhead travelling cranes, and straddle carriers) and the like.
When electric outage has occurred in this container terminal 1X, for example, when the supply of electric power from the electric power company 30 is stopped, the supply of electric power to the electric supply lines 20, the bus bars 21, the electric supply cables 22, and the reefer stands 23 is stopped. As a result, the supply of electric power to the management building 3, the yard cranes 11X, the quay cranes 12X, and the reefer containers RCs is stopped. For this reason, there arise problems in that the terminal management system controlled in the management building 3 is stopped, and the temperature of the insides of the reefer containers RCs increase, and further, if the quay cranes 12X and the yard cranes 11X are during cargo handling operation, these cranes are stopped in the middle of suspending cargos.
Meanwhile, there are devices in each of which a power generator and a storage battery are mounted on a crane operating in a container terminal to be operable without supply of continuous electric power from the container terminal (see for example Patent Documents 1 and 2). Besides these devices, a large number of devices in which at least one of a power generator and a storage battery is mounted on a yard crane or a quay crane have been proposed. These devices can move independently by using electric power of a power generator or a secondary battery mounted thereon without supply of electric power from a container terminal, even when electric outage occurs in the container terminal. These devices can solve the problems in which cranes are stopped during handling cargos, even when electric outage occurs in the container terminal.
However, the problems in which a management building, in which a terminal management system is operating, or a reefer container, whose temperature would increase if no electric power is supplied, cannot be supplied with electric power at the time of emergency such as electric outage have not been solved. For overcoming this problem, a method in which a power generator that can be used as an emergency power source is prepared is conceivable. This method, however, has a problem in which the cost is increased for separately preparing the power generator, a problem in which it takes time to start the power generator to supply electric power, and the like.